The Defense Department has ended a hiring freeze on vacant civilian jobs at “fourth state” agencies after such agencies listed in a database system the positions they plan to eliminate in compliance with a “delayering” program, Federal News Radio reported Tuesday.

Jared Serbu writes Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work announced the delayering initiative through a July 2015 memo in an effort to reduce spending across DoD.

“All organizations have met the June 30 deadline to finalize their manpower adjustments in the Fourth Estate Manpower Tracking System,” said Lt. Col. Eric Badger, a spokesman for DoD, according to the report.

The fourth Estate covers 28 DoD agencies that are not part of the three military departments.

These include the office of defense secretary, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Defense Logistics Agency, Defense Security Cooperation Agency and the National Security Agency.

Aaron Mehta also reports for Defense News that Work ordered the civilian hiring freeze for 4th Estate agencies on March 20.

Badger said in an emailed statement to Defense News that Work is “still holding leadership accountable for meeting their planned reductions of Major Headquarters Activities positions over the next 4 years.”

“We continue to expect the vast majority of impacted workers, upwards of 96 percent, will be placed in other jobs or take voluntary actions, such as an early retirement or separation incentive payments,” Badger added.

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has said he believes the U.S. should maintain security networks with its partner nations as part of efforts to respond to global threats, DoD News reported Monday.

Jim Garamone writes Carter said during a speech Monday at the Center for a New American Security in Washington that security networks help to counter terrorism, prevent conflict and provide protection.

Carter noted the U.S. forged a security arrangement in Asia Pacific based on the integration of bilateral, trilateral and multilateral ties into a regionwide network, according to the report.

“In the Middle East and North Africa, we’re leading coalitions and networks to address key security challenges like [the Islamic State organization] and other terror groups, and to counter Iran’s malign influence,” he told his audience at the CNAS event.

The report said the U.S. also maintains ties with Japan, South Korea, India, Vietnam, the Philippines and Australia for what Carter describes as collective security as well as collaborates with the NATO member nations to deter threats in new domains and regulate migration in Europe.

U.S. Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the U.N. Peacekeeping Force will likely assume a bigger role in missions to counter transregional conflicts, DoD News said Saturday.

Jim Garamone writes Dunford spoke at a peacekeeping meeting during a visit to the U.N. headquarters in New York on Friday.

Dunford said two-thirds of peacekeepers currently serve in active conflict areas and 16 peacekeeping operations are ongoing worldwide with more than 121,000 troops, police and civilians involved.

He added the “growing demand” for peacekeeping operations require optimized civilian and military leadership teams; forces at the brigade, battalion and company levels; and intelligence, air and ground mobility, logistics, counter-improvised explosive device, engineering and medical support.

University of Miami physicist Neil Johnson has led a team of researchers to develop a mathematical model that works to identify patterns in the online activity of Islamic State sympathizers in efforts to predict attacks by the Islamic State organization, the New York Times reported Thursday.

Johnson and the team published a study based on research of pro-IS posts Russia-based social network Vkontakte between mid-2014 and August 2015, Pam Belluck wrote.

Researchers focused on small groups to monitor new activities that could possibly lead to information on future acts of terrorism, the study said.

The study further revealed the formation of small groups accelerated prior to an attack on the Syrian town of Kobani which could set a precedent for future prediction of ISIS-related incursions.

Johnson told the Times the equation used data on small groups to predict the Kobani attack.